The increasing use and awareness of the utility afforded by the Internet has transformed this simple image recording or capture process into a more complicated process requiring permanent storage and providing a secure centralized access to such storage from any remote location.
The currently available camera systems available are rigid and expensive. These systems are complex and require a host of peripheral devices to place an image on the Internet or Web. Additionally, these systems are bulky and not very portable. Moreover, the user must install one or more software to operate such camera systems. In a security monitoring application, these camera systems require a qualified operator to operate and maintain such system.
An example of such prior camera system is shown in FIG. 1. In order for an operator to transfer the still image, video and/or audio file from a video camera 100 to an account on the Internet or Web, the operator must connect the video camera 100 to a personal computer PC 200. The still image, video and/or audio file is transferred and stored in the PC 200 before it is transferred or uploaded onto the Internet. That is, the camera 100 must be connected to a network device (e.g., PC 200) before it can transmit or receive still image, video or audio files.
Some have attempted to resolve this problem by purchasing a network card (wired or wireless) to enable their camera 100 to connect to the Internet without a separate network device (i.e., PC 200). However, such solution is only available if the camera 100 can accept such network card and does not provide two-way access to the image file, i.e., transmitting to storage and receiving from storage. Additionally, such solution generally requires the operator to install the network card and accompanying software to “network” enabled camera 100.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an integrated Internet camera system that can seamlessly upload and download video and/or audio files to and from the Internet, transmits these files to another web-enabled portable device (e.g., another camera, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone and the like), receive/download video and/or audio files from another portable device and/or store/archive these files in a secure website without the necessity of connecting to another device, such as a PC 200.